From 5 September to 20 November 2025, the city of Bukhara will host its first contemporary art biennial, staged across newly restored landmarks. Commissioned by the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation under Chairperson Gayane Umerova, the Biennial is set to become one of the largest cultural initiatives in Central Asia. Curated by Artistic Director Diana Campbell, the inaugural edition, Recipes for Broken Hearts, will present new commissions made in Uzbekistan in collaboration with master artisans. Additionally, artist Yunus Farmonov has created a series of illustrations, each depicting one of the collaborations, offering a visual thread that ties them together.
Among international artists, arab representation features in the debut edition, with artists exploring themes of history, heritage, and the resilience of cultural memory. Among them Egyptian artist Wael Shawky who is presenting a new work created with Jurabek Siddikov (Uzbekistan). Shawky’s practice reimagines historical narratives through performance and storytelling, weaving together fact and fiction to probe the entanglements of religion, politics, and power.
Other Arab participants include Ahmad Angawi (Saudi Arabia), whose Al-Jabr & Al-Jazr: The Algorithm of Healing (2024–2025) reinterprets sacred geometry and traditional craft as a form of cultural dialogue; Dana Awartani (Saudi Arabia/Palestine), whose Standing by the Ruins IV (2025) reflects on healing through time-intensive techniques like weaving and embroidery; and Majid Al-Remaihi (Qatar), who with collaborators Anhar Salem (Yemen) and Iskandar Hakimov (Uzbekistan) explores fractured narratives of the Arabian Gulf in A Donkey Will (2025).
Other contributors include Caravane Earth (Qatar), focusing on sustainability and craft; Samah Hijawi, whose Kinships and Cosmologies (2024–2025) traces knowledge through food and ritual; Sara Ouhaddou, working with Uzbekistan’s Hunarmand Artisan Association on To the Guardians (2025); Laila Gohar (Egypt) who weaves together food, architecture, and ritual as shared languages of community and hospitality in Navat Uy (2024–2025); and finally, Tarek Atoui who translates different sensory languages by creating custom instruments and soundscapes.
Through this convergence of Arab voices with Central Asian and global practices, Bukhara Biennial positions itself as a site of dialogue, connecting heritage and contemporary art across geographies.
Location: Bukhara, Uzbekistan.
Date: 5 September to 20 November 2025